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Separations exert a detrimental impact on different areas of life in both adults and children. Having already experienced family instability, stepfamily members are at risk of experiencing even multiple family separations across the life course. To better understand stepfamily (in)stability in Europe, we study stability risks and facilitators between stepfamilies in Germany. We pursue Cherlin's perspective of stepfamilies' destabilizing lack of institutionalization. Specifically, we assess the impact of social control in terms of social and legislative conditions, (step)parents' social roles in terms of gender roles, and customs and conventions of family life in terms of union status. We apply event history analysis to a sample of 2,166 stepfamilies, 543 of which end up separated, from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). For example, we find that social and legislative liberalization might destabilize stepfamilies if it eases leaving unhappy relationships, and might stabilize stepfamilies if it alleviates stepfamilies' financial or caregiving burdens through de-familiarization. In contrast to stepfather families, stepmother families' stability appears to profit from stepmothers' and biological fathers' investment in stepfamily relationships to make up for noncomplying with gendered social roles. Overall, stepfamily stability appears to benefit from individual as well as societal pursuits of re-institutionalization.

Stepfamilies are the fastest growing family form in the country. Although clinicians note the need for different family patterns for stepfamilies, those differences have not been identified and empirically tested. The predominance of literature on the subject has been problem focused: Research has often been based on families in treatment or has assessed differences in stepfamilies as problematic. In this exploratory research, well–functioning stepfamilies were interviewed in their homes, themes common to and different from biologically based families were noted, and differences from families in treatment were assessed. A further purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of standardized family-functioning measures on this population.

Do stepfamilies experience greater levels of stressors than first families? Do they also experience more negative manifestations of stress? Find the latest research on these questions and more in this groundbreaking exploration of the complex factors and dynamics that make up stepfamilies. The Stepfamily Puzzle fills a gap in research that has not kept pace with the rapid growth of interest in this subject. It sets some of the pieces of the stepfamily puzzle into an intergenerational framework that includes the roles of grandparents, parent-child interactions, the struggles to define boundarie

The evidence about relationships in British stepfamilies between 1500 and 1800 deals mostly with relationships between adults, not between adults and young children. A dominant theme is the threat posed to inheritance by a parent's remarriage, which had three possibilities: that an heir would be disinherited in favour of the children of the new marriage, that a parent and stepparent would squander their wealth during the biological parent's lifetime, and that a stepparent might acquire a life interest in an estate after a spouse's death. It seems that these fears were in many cases groundless. The possibility that domestic harmony might result from a parent's remarriage was also often exaggerated, and the general picture is of stepfamily relationships that were mixed in quality.

Preface -- About the author -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction : what we know about stepfamiles -- Developmental schemas of stepfamilies -- Marital issues in stepfamilies -- Stepparenting -- Stepfather families -- Stepmother families -- Mutual child stepfamilies -- Extended stepfamily constellations : relationships with ex-spouses -- The extended stepfamily constellation : relationships with stepgrandparents -- Future directions in the study of stepfamilies -- References -- Index.

"This second edition synthesizes the emerging knowledge base on the diversity of stepfamilies, their inherent concerns, and why so relatively little is still known about them. Its extensive findings shed needed light on family arrangements relatively new to the literature (e.g., cohabitating stepparents), the effects of these relationships on different family members (e.g., stepsiblings, stepgrandparents), the experiences of gay and lesbian stepfamilies, and the stigma against non-nuclear families. Coverage reviews effective therapeutic and counseling interventions for emotional, familial, and social challenges of stepfamilies, as well as the merits of family education and self-help programs. The authors explore prevailing myths about marriage, divorce, and stepfamily life while expanding the limits of stepfamily research. Among the topics included: The cultural context of stepfamilies; Couple dynamics in stepfamilies; Gay and lesbian couples in stepfamilies; The dynamics of stepparenting; Siblings, half-siblings, and stepsiblings; Effects of stepfamily living on children; Clinical perspectives on stepfamily dynamics. For researchers and clinicians who work with families, it enriches the literature as it offers insights and guidelines for effective practice as well as possible avenues for future research"--Provided by publisher